The flowering plants of South Africa; vol. 4 — John Shaqi
The flowering plants of South Africa; vol. 4Pole Evans, I. B. (Illtyd Buller)
Science
The flowering plants of South Africa; vol. 4
Pole Evans, I. B. (Illtyd Buller)
Plants -- South Africa -- Periodicals; Plants -- South Africa -- Pictorial works -- Periodicals
=Veltheimia Roodeae=, _Phillips_, _sp. nov._, a _V. glauca_, Jacq.
foliis ovatis acuminatis et marginibus undulatis differt.
_Bulbus_ 13 cm. longus, 6 cm. latus. _Folia_ 12-15 cm. longa, basi 4-5
cm. lata, ovata, acuminata, apice acuta, marginibus undulatis, glabra.
_Pedunculus_ 12-15 cm. longus, 6 mm. latus. _Inflorescentia_ 3·5 cm.
longa. _Bracteae_ 1 cm. longae. _Pedicellus_ 1·5 mm. longus. _Tubus
perianthii_ 2·2 cm. longus, cylindricus, basi paullo globosus; lobi 1·5
mm. longi, 1·5 mm. lati, ovati, apice obtusi. _Filamenta_ 1 cm. longa;
antherae 2·25 mm. longae, oblongae. _Ovarium_ 1 cm. longum, 2·5 mm.
latum, sulcatum; stylus 1 cm. longus; stigma simplex.
As we find it impossible to place this plant into any of the known
species of the genus, we have decided to publish a description of it
under the name of _V. Roodeae_, in honour of Mrs. R. Rood of Van
Rhynsdorp, to whom our readers are greatly indebted for so many of the
rare plants we have previously figured. It differs in the shape of the
leaves from any of the species described in the _Flora Capensis_. They
are distinctly undulate.
_Veltheimia_ is a small genus of 3 species, none of which appears to
have been extensively gathered by recent botanical collectors. The first
known species, _V. viridifolia_, was described by Linneaus (as _Aletris
capensis_) in 1751, and was introduced into European cultivation in
1768, so that a species of the genus was known to botanical science over
150 years ago.
_V. viridifolia_, Jacq., does quite well under cultivation, but we have
not yet had an opportunity of growing the species here described.
DESCRIPTION:--Bulb 13 cm. long, 6 cm. in diameter, ellipsoid, covered
with membranous tunics, at the base with a disc-shaped rootstock 6 cm.
in diameter, 2·5 cm. thick, from which the roots arise. _Leaves_ 11 to a
bulb, 12-15 cm. long, 4·5 cm. broad near the base, ovate, acuminate,
acute, clasping at the base, with undulate margins and a broad thick
midrib beneath slightly raised, green and glaucous above, densely
reddish-spotted beneath, glabrous. _Peduncle_ as long as the leaves, 6
mm. in diameter, terete, reddish by being covered with close-set reddish
spots. _Inflorescence_ 3·5 cm. long. _Bracts_ 1 cm. long, almost
filiform. _Pedicels_ 1·5 mm. long. _Flowers_ somewhat reflexed;
perianth-tube 2·2 cm. long, 4 mm. in diameter, cylindric, faintly
globose and bent about the middle, white with reddish spots; lobes 1·5
mm. long, 1·5 mm. broad, ovate, obtuse. _Stamens_ fixed to the middle of
the perianth-tube; filaments 1 cm. long; anthers 2·25 mm. long, oblong.
_Ovary_ 1 cm. long, 2·5 mm. in diameter, in the middle spindle-shaped,
furrowed; style 1 cm. long, terete; stigma simple (National Herb. 2739).
* * * * *
PLATE 126.--Fig. 1, median longitudinal section of a flower; Fig. 2,
stamen; Fig. 3, pistil; Fig. 4, cross-section through the ovary.
F.P.S.A., 1924.
[Illustration: _127._]
PLATE 127.
STRUMARIA TRUNCATA.
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